At almost 51 percent, American Sniper suffered its biggest week to week drop yet, but considering it still grossed $38.85 million for the week and is poised to cross $250 million domestically and $320 million worldwide, it hardly matters. It’s a big hit. We knew this.
Everything else flopped. Project Almanac was the top new release, still earning less than $10 million, making it the second worst opening for Michael Bay’s Platinum Dunes, and God willing, the nail in the coffin of found footage.
When Project Almanac originally went in to production back in mid-2013, the found footage genre still seemed to be in its prime: in 2012, four different titles earned north of $50 million in the U.S. Due to a major release date delay, though, Project Almanac arrived in theaters after a year in which all six found footage movies earned less than $50 million. [BoxOfficeMojo]
Amazingly, a Kevin Costner movie also opened this weekend, and it managed to suck even more than that. Black Or White’s $6.46 million in fact, was worse than Kevin Costner’s last disappointing opening, Draft Day ($9.8 million). Critics didn’t like it much either (37 percent on RottenTomatoes), while undiscriminating audiences thought it was pretty okay (A- Cinemascore).
Black Or White still did better than this weekend’s other new release, The Loft. Be honest, had anyone else heard of The Loft before this second?
It stars James Marsden and Karl Urban, and was apparently shot in 2011. When a movie shot years earlier starring recognizable actors gets dumped into late January with zero advertising, it seems like the studio is trying to hide it, and they probably are. The one positive review for The Loft called it “the sort of disposable, high-end junk that can only belong to January.”
Again, that was the positive one. But buck up, folks, January is over now. This weekend brings us Eddie Redmayne trying to torpedo his own Oscar campaign in Jupiter Ascending (starring C-Tates as a space wolf!), Jeff Bridges going full Worthington in Seventh Son, and The Spongebob Movie.
Seems like Jupiter Ascending and Seventh Son are going to split the so-ridiculous-it-might-be-amazing ticket. Should’ve planned better there.